Vancouver Family Law Blog

Good news for divorcing stay-at-home parents who have experienced difficulty in obtaining lines of credit: New legislation will allow credit bureaus to use income and assets of a spouse or partner to determine one's eligibility for credit cards. For those going through divorce, the news could not have come soon enough; provisions in existing legislation had prevented many divorcées from accessing the financial resources they needed.

Experts blame the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act for unintentionally limiting access to credit among stay-at-home spouses. The act, designed to prevent vulnerable populations such as college students from getting into serious financial straits, effectively blocked homemakers from obtaining credit. At-home spouses who would have previously been eligible for cards because of household income were therefore left with few options, particularly after a breakup. Many of these spouses were women who found themselves vulnerable to financial problems due to a lack of credit.

Families in Vancouver, Washington, may be more affected by the sequestration cuts than they like to think, particularly when it comes to domestic violence. Domestic abuse affects a number of people in Washington and the U.S. every day and some are arguing that this does not matter to the federal government as many advocacy programs are losing funding.

The sequestration cuts come after the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act was stalled, thus negating the ground that was regained when the act was signed into law once more earlier this year. Now, many of the services that domestic violence victims rely on will be unable to serve the same number of people that they have been serving. But this is not new news. Such programs have been fighting against shrinking funding for some time now, caused by other governmental cuts as well as tighter wallets on individuals who would normally donate to such causes due to the recession.

Prenuptial agreements have traditionally been exclusive to wealthy couples. Still, divorce experts argue that many couples in all socio--economic situations could benefit from the development of a prenuptial. Even if you do not have significant financial assets before entering into a marriage, you should consider protecting your future earnings and debts. Even though the idea of a prenuptial agreement may not mesh with your idea of wedded bliss, they could protect you from financial and legal problems in the future.

Prenuptials are largely designed to protect your earnings after you enter into your marriage. Imagine that you have just started a law practice after saying “I do"; at that point, you may not have very many personal assets, but you will accumulate them as your business continues to thrive. If you expect to take over a family business, or if you currently own your own business, a prenuptial agreement could protect those assets enough to keep them financially solvent even after a split.

Children of divorce are obviously affected by the ramifications of a family split. Despite every parent's best efforts to smooth the transition, at least a small amount of emotional stress is likely to occur when negotiating child custody. Now, a new service has become available for residents of Vancouver, Washington as parenting-plan mediation services are becoming more prominent.

Industry experts say there has long been a gap in services for people seeking to use collaborative methods to develop comprehensive child custody plans. Nonprofit groups throughout the city are now providing negotiating support for parents who are attempting to determine where children will live, how often they'll transfer between guardians and when grandparents are allowed to visit.